Two Winters Past

EXT. DEPOSIT. AFTERNOON.

Music plays over a black screen.

MUSIC: FAITH NO MORE: War Pigs (Live)

Fade in the sound of battle: Spears clattering on shields, gunshots, men screaming.

HARD CUT: We are crouched beneath the bucklers of the Damascans. Those on the outside pull back their shields to let in the sun and thrust forth an aluminum ladder.

Ladder is unfolded and locked.

Damascans brace the ladder and two men scramble up.

The incline of the Deposit wall leaves a gap of about four feet. Both men jump, knocking over the ladder as they go.

Damascans catch the edge of the wall and scramble for a hold.

Barabas archers on the other side of the wall are shooting up, but with the catwalk gone, a ten-foot section of wall has become inaccessible to the Barabas.

LOGAN watches at the gate with TARTELL.

Another Damascan ladder has gone up. VILLOFF has his men ready to tackle any Damascan that makes it over the wall alive.

Damascans beneath RICHARDS have left their ladder closed. Ladder slams against Deposit wall and three Damascans climb  up.

RICHARDS and his men keep the Damascans down at spearpoint.

Pan along the outer wall of Deposit. So far no Damascans have made it to the top of the ladder. Some of the Deposit wall has fallen away in the fighting, revealing the skeleton of crushed cars beneath.

A number of Damascan bodies lie at the base of the wall. A few Barabas corpses are with them.

Snipers kill two more Barabas near RICHARDS.

TARTELL raises his hand to signal an order. We hear the crack of a gunshot and half the hand disappears in a bloody pop.

A moment passes before TARTELL realizes what has happened. He brings the stump close to his face. The two outer fingers are gone, and stark white stumps of bone protrude from pulpy flesh.

TARTELL holds the mangled hand in disbelief before LOGAN.

LOGAN: Order your men to shoot!

TARTELL forgets his injury.

TARTELL: Open fire! Drive them back!

LOGAN: They can hear us running out of bullets.

Another squad reaches the wall to aid the squad currently fighting LOGAN’s troops.

Tight shot of Damascan bucklers laid across each other like tiles, metal-tipped spears. Motion of combat sways them like they are drifting on liquid. All of the shields are made from matching road signs, turning left. Rocks crash down from above, initial impact broken on the bucklers, then slide between the gaps to land in the mud.

Two ladders are up near RICHARDS and TARTELL, but no men are daring to climb.

Two squads have soldiers on ladders grappling with the spearmen above them. Everpresent chanting and song continues in the ranks of the Damascans.

LOGAN: (shouting) Villoff!

VILLOFF hesitates.

LOGAN: Get your men down to help them!

The newest squad has reached the wall.

Two more squads wait at the treeline. Damascan snipers are still firing strong.

Somewhere off the battlefield, a horn sounds, a long deep note that echos on the hills.

Damascans immediately break off combat and withdraw, raising their bucklers and leaving the ladders behind.

The BARABAS cheer. Many are still shooting arrows into the retreating force.

MED SHOT: LOGAN looking out onto the field. He is breathing so hard through his mouth that he is panting. His gasps turn slowly to laughter.

TARTELL comes to LOGAN on the catwalk and RICHARDS is standing below.

RICHARDS: How many did we kill?

LOGAN: There must be thirty bodies down there.

TARTELL: We lost seven.

RICHARDS: One man got back up.

TARTELL: Medic! (Hides his hand.) Who needs a medic?

LOGAN climbs down from the catwalk.

LOGAN: Get medics in the yard, I want half your men in bunks in five minutes. Everyone else is pulling in those ladders and using them to fix the catwalk. You got an hour to sleep, no more, then someone else takes a turn.

Squads break each other up.

KOTE leads the reinforcements into the school.

A BARABAS hands LOGAN a bottle of wine.

LOGAN drinks and hands it to TARTELL, who drinks and then dumps some on his mangled hand.

BARABAS are leaving the walls into the yard, shaking weapons in the air and patting each other on the back.

LOGAN climbs down the ladder. He is greeted with congratulation.  

MUSIC: “Satan laughing spreads his wings.”

Continued Wednesday